45 days to Inauguration – BULLETIN: Obama unveils 21st century New Deal, adding sweep and meat to his jobs plan and moving much of his domestic agenda under "economic recovery"By:
MIKE ALLEN
on December 6, 2008 @ 11:35 AM

EXCLUSIVE: More than 18 publishers have expressed interest in David Plouffe's book.

BLOCKBUSTER-- Coming in Sunday's LAS VEGAS SUN, By Lisa Mascaro/Washington Bureau -- BIDEN TO BE BARRED FROM SENATE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS MEETINGS AS PART OF REID EFFORT TO RESTORE CHECKS AND BALANCES: "The new Congress will reassert its constitutional independence from the White House by barring the vice president from joining in internal Senate deliberations, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in an interview with The Sun. The move is intended to restore checks and balances to a system that tilted heavily toward the White House in the Bush presidency. By giving Vice President Dick Cheney regular access to Senate Republican caucuses, at times with White House advisers in tow, party unity became more important to many Republicans than upholding their responsibilities to provide legislative oversight of the executive, experts say. Asked if Vice-President Joe Biden will be allowed to attend Senate Democratic caucus meetings, Reid said: 'Absolutely not.'" Must credit Las Vegas Sun. Full story 2 a.m. Sunday at http://www.lasvegassun.com/

TEASES TO ITEMS BELOW: A term that might catch on: "The Great Recession" -- Overnight: Car deal getting closer; Congress returning -- Barron’s: The “real” unemployment rate is 12.5 percent – For Sunday papers, AP declares: “[A]s Obama is finding out, it is impractical to plan and fill up a new government without connections to lobbyists."

BREAKING – WORKERS TAKEOVER: “Workers laid off from their jobs at a Chicago factory have occupied the building and are demanding assurances they'll get severance and vacation pay that they say they are owed. About 200 employees of Republic Windows and Doors began staging the sit-in in shifts this week after learning the plant was closing Friday.” – AP

Good Saturday morning. TALK RADIO ALERT -- Tiny bombs, safe places? William Ayers has an Op-Ed in today’s N.Y. Times, “The Real Bill Ayers: It’s finally time to tell my true story”: “In 1970, I co-founded the Weather Underground, an organization that was created after an accidental explosion that claimed the lives of three of our comrades in Greenwich Village. The Weather Underground went on to take responsibility for placing several small bombs in empty offices — the ones at the Pentagon and the United States Capitol were the most notorious — as an illegal and unpopular war consumed the nation. …

“President-elect Obama and I sat on a board together; we lived in the same diverse and yet close-knit community; we sometimes passed in the bookstore. We didn’t pal around, and I had nothing to do with his positions. I knew him as well as thousands of others did, and like millions of others, I wish I knew him better. Demonization, guilt by association, and the politics of fear did not triumph, not this time. Let’s hope they never will again. And let’s hope we might now assert that in our wildly diverse society, talking and listening to the widest range of people is not a sin, but a virtue.”

TOP STORY: Sunday A1 editors got a huge gift in their e-mail this morning. President-elect Obama added sweep and meat to his economic agenda, pledging the largest new invest in roads and bridges since President Dwight D. Eisenhower built the Interstate system in the last 1950s. That’s the biggest part of the package unveiled in Obama’s weekly radio/YouTube address. The president-elect also said for the first time that he will “launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen.”

***The president-elect is bringing new elements of his domestic agenda into his economic recovery plan, committing to a path toward giving every American access to an electronic medical record as part of an “economic recovery plan … that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives.” Obama had talked in the campaign about lowing health care costs by investing in electronic information technology systems, but not in the context of the economy.

It’s a modern, smaller version of the New Deal. As Politico’s Jonathan Martin e-mails from the Michigan Avenue Marriott: “Green classrooms are the new T.V.A.”

“When Congress reconvenes in January, I look forward to working with them to pass a plan immediately,” Obama says in the address. Obama had committed just before Thanksgiving to saving or creating 2.5 million jobs in the next two years, more than twice his campaign promise of 1 million new jobs over an unspecified period. But he didn’t say how he would do it. On Saturday, he spelled it out, with five sections: 1) “a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient,” 2) the roads, 3) the schools, 4) the medical records and 5) BROADBAND: “every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m President.” Incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had talked about broadband expansion, but this is the first time the transition has formally proposed it.

THE AUTO BAILOUT -- Politico's David Rogers: "The two sides had almost painfully talked past one another until Friday, when Pelosi telephoned the president’s chief of staff, Josh Bolten, and White House officials reached out to individual lawmakers."

David Rogers' lead: “Jolted by Friday’s unemployment numbers, the White House and Congress stepped back from their game of chicken with the auto industry and hoped to reach a short term solution after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave ground. The House will be called back into session Tuesday, and Democrats said they will work through the weekend in hopes of drafting legislation that could yet be considered then together with the Senate.

The White House’s Tony Fratto e-mails us: “We've had very constructive discussions, but there's nothing to announce, yet. Talks will continue this weekend. What's most important is that everyone now agrees that automakers must have a credible plan for viability if we're going to consider taxpayer assistance.”

PRODUCER ALERT: The front page of the Detroit Free Press on Friday was completely consumed by a red-bordered “Special Free Press Editorial – A Message to Washington – INVEST IN AMERICA – Dear Members of Congress …”

Today’s Freep banners: “FRAGILE LOAN PLAN CLEARS BIG HURDLE.”

AP Special Correspondent David Espo, in his 22ndLd-Writethru last night: “Several officials in both parties said a key breakthrough on the long-stalled bailout came when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bowed to Bush's demand that the aid come from a fund set aside for the production of environmentally friendlier cars.”

The Huffington Post links to Espo’s story with the banner, “Bush Wins Showdown: Green Car Fund Tapped To Bailout Detroit.”

MRS. ROMNEY IS IN GOOD SPIRITS AND GRATEFUL FOR EARLY DETECTION. YESTERDAY SHE RELEASED “AN ANNOUNCEMENT ON ANN ROMNEY’S HEALTH”:
“Last week, following my annual mammogram at Brigham and Women's Hospital, I was diagnosed with Ductal Carcinoma In Sutu (DCIS). While this is commonly referred to as early stage breast cancer, it is technically not cancer but rather pre-cancer, as it has not become invasive. Today, I have had a lumpectomy. This procedure does not require hospitalization. Mitt and I feel fortunate to have caught this so early. And, it reminds us how important it is for women to have regular mammograms. As in all cases of cancer, early detection is critical. Many families are facing medical hardships--our hearts go out to all of you and also our wishes for healing holidays.”

THE ONE PARAGRAPH TO READ ABOUT THE ECONOMY: Alan Abelson’s “Up & Down Wall Street” column in the BARRON’S out today is “From Bad to Worse”: “In the past 12 months, 1.9 million jobs have gone up in smoke, and the number of unemployed has swelled by 2.7 million to 10.3 million. The actual unemployment rate, if you include marginally attached workers and folks forced to take part-time jobs because they can’t find full-time slots, shot up to 12.5%, a new high since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began to keep tabs back in 1994. There are lots of ways to describe what’s happening on the jobs front. But they’re all bad.”

PUNDIT PREP: Financial Times, which has “World in recession” labels at the tops of its inside pages: “US labour market: The loss of 533,000 jobs in November was the fastest monthly decline in 34 years.”

BLOOMBERG NEWS KEY QUOTE: “This may be referred to as the Great Recession,” because of its length, said Norbert Ore, chairman of the Institute for Supply Management’s factory survey.

AP PRIMER: “The United States — already in recession for a year, may not be out of it until the spring of 2010 — making for the longest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, economists are now saying. Recessions in the mid-1970s and early 1980s last 16 months. Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent in 1982, terrible but still a far cry from the Depression, when roughly one in four Americans were out of work. …The record for the longest recession in the post-[WWII] period is 16 months, which was reached in the 1973-75 and 1981-82 downturns.”

SCOOP ON OBAMA CAMPAIGN SURPLUS – AP’s Philip ELLIOTT, a rising star of this cycle who’s BACK IN WASHINGTON, and will be among the AP reporters covering the White House and Obama administration: “Democrats carrying significant campaign debt after winning a string of House and Senate races are grumbling about President-elect Barack Obama's financial reserves, saying the party's leader is sitting on a pile of cash while Democratic leaders are broke. Obama's organization retains some $30 million after his successful presidential bid, but it's unclear how the Democratic president-in-waiting might use the money. Members of his party are doing their best to appeal for the funds without appearing greedy, ungrateful or hostile to their new leader.”

--AP, “Obama hopes to avoid Clinton health care missteps,” By Kevin Freking: “President-elect Barack Obama and his aides are determined not to repeat the mistakes the Clinton administration made 15 years ago in trying to revamp the nation's health care system. That means applying some of the lessons learned — moving fast, seizing momentum and not letting it go.”

--AP, “The Influence Game -- Obama: AP IMPACT: Donors, lobbyists help Obama get ready,” By Rita Beamish: “Faced with hiring a new administration, President-elect Barack Obama is learning how hard it is to keep his promise to avoid aides who have been entangled with the capital's lobbying scene. An Associated Press review of more than 400 members of Obama's transition team identified at least 34 who have registered in recent years to lobby government officials on behalf of clients or employers — some as recently as this summer. The AP's review represents the most comprehensive examination to date of people working on Obama's incoming administration. During the campaign, Obama promised to keep lobbyists at arm's length, and he has taken steps aimed at keeping out the taint of the influence business. … ‘By moving lobbyists out of the particular matters they lobbied, our policy distances them from the interests of their clients,’ transition spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

“Yet, as Obama is finding out, it is impractical to plan and fill up a new government without connections to lobbyists. … Overall, the people Obama is relying on to build his administration have represented unions; energy, environmental groups, insurance, and drug companies; Wal-Mart; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and the lobbying arm of the Washington-based Center for American Progress. … Also prominent on Obama's new team are his big-money fundraisers. At least 18 of Obama's major financial backers are helping him create his administration. They collected at least $50,000 each from friends and associates to help pay for the most expensive presidential campaign in history.

“A few raised at least $500,000 each. They include two former officials from the Federal Communications Commission: Donald Gips, a one-time aide to Vice President Al Gore who is co-chairman of Obama's teams reviewing government agencies; and Julius Genachowski, who was an executive at Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, when the Internet giant owned Ticketmaster and Home Shopping Network. Genachowski is working on technology and government reform policy for the new administration.”

1) “Are you going to get off the sidelines before you're sworn in and, if not, what do you say to those in your own party who are waiting for you to show some leadership?”

2) “You've said you support assisting the automakers, but what specific requirements for business and labor would you include in an aid package to ensure the same Big Three CEOs in Washington last week don't come back later asking for further assistance?”

3) “In recent weeks, there have been published reports suggesting that you're backing off your campaign proposals to raise taxes on the rich and enact a windfall profits tax on oil companies. How, then, will you pay for a stimulus package, middle-class tax cuts and the other expensive proposals you laid out during the campaign?”

4) “You said recently that you'd give Defense Secretary Robert Gates ‘a new mission,’ and also that we're on a ‘glide path’ out of Iraq. Which is it? Are you going to accelerate the pace set by the Status of Forces Agreement calling for U.S. troops to leave by 2011, or are you just going to coast on what President Bush is leaving you?"

5) “What will you do with the terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay?”

6) “One of your donors told Politico's Ben Smith that you promised at a fundraiser last year that your first overseas trip as president would be to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country and a place you lived for a time as a child. Is this your intent, and, as a gesture to the Muslim world, will you be sworn in on January 20th as ‘Barack Hussein Obama?’ ”

7) “Is the Bush administration doing enough to pressure Pakistan to find those behind the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month and, if not, what more can be done?”

8) “How do you reconcile your call for a change in the way business is done in Washington, especially with regard to ethics, with your appointment of Eric Holder to be Attorney General? Tell me what you know about the Marc Rich pardon -- what did you think about it at the time?”

9 and 10) “Closer to home, as somebody who railed against lobbyists and special interests in your campaign, do you favor the effort of your colleague, Sen. Richard Durbin, to commute the prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan? And is it time for the current governor, Rod Blagojevich, to step down or at least pledge to not seek another term in 2010?”

GET YOUR EARS ON: Sofia Dickens, wife of Reed Dickens, will be a guest panelist on American Public Radio’s "Weekend America" on Saturday afternoon. It’s on Sirius at noon ET today and XM at 5 a.m. ET tomorrow. IT’S ON IN L.A. AT 1 P.M. PT TODAY on KPCC-FM 89.3. No listing for DC.

POOL REPORTS:

--Kelly and Roy Schwartz threw a combo “Roy’s Birthday & Holiday Party” last night in their amazing penthouse near Ben’s Chili Bowl. (We’re sure that’s how real-estate agents describe the hip U and 12th neighborhood, which is going to get even hipper in the next administration.) The Häagen-Dazs caramel-cone ice-cream cake went fast after Roy struggled with the 20 candles, eight of which were “magic relighting candles.” Roy’s hint du jour: When making Bellinis, put the fruit and sugar in first, NOT the Champagne. Your cleaners will thank you. A popular (and surprisingly smooth) shot: Patron XO Café – coffee-infused tequila. Kelly and Roy fuse their faiths with Hanukkah decorations on a Christmas tree (hard by the fireplace scene on the HD big-screen). They had suggested bringing an “unusual drink or appetizer,” and wound up with never-to-be-drunk eggnog and Lauren Silverman’s vegan pigs in blankets. (Yummy, btw.) Lauren was enjoying being “in my 20s,” a status that ends Tuesday. Jennifer Hurley charitably kept quiet about the fact that she was only 27 and 1 day.

--The A-list GOPosse showed strong for the “5th Annual Crappy-Christmas & Heinous-Hanukkah Sweater Party” in a white tent in an Arlington yard, with part of a Santa costume tossed on the roof. (One of the Santas was swilling Korbel through his rented white beard.) Mike Neal, who’s among the founders (11 hosts this year), gets the RECIDIVISM AWARD for his annual zip-up red holiday vest that would be a hit in any bingo parlor. Special category: “3-D Sweaters,” festooned with ornaments and such. By the time we got there, Jay was down to a T-shirt promising, “Nice Jewish Boy!” Actual Nice Jewish Boy Rob had a hooded red, snowflake-bedecked number that he planned to burn in order to determine the “fiber” composition. Ryan Haddad sported antlers. When we left in the wee hours, Brian was closing but the party wasn’t. There was talk of rallying to Atlantic City, but debate about who would drive.

SPORTS BLINK, with guest contributor Geoff "Bean" Embler: "My alma mater, the Sumter Gamecocks (Sumter, SC) plays the James F. Byrnes Rebels (Duncan, SC) in the South Carolina AAAA Division I High School Football State Championship on Saturday at 3:00 PM at Death Valley in Clemson. This is Sumter's eighth trip to the state championship, their first trip since 2003. The Gamecocks haven't won one since 1990. It's an uphill battle for them, as Byrnes has won five championships in the last six years. As a Clemson graduate, these are the only Gamecocks I can support. They are also the original Gamecocks. The gamecock was their mascot before the University of South Carolina adopted it. The city and county of Sumter was named for Revolutionary War Gen. Thomas Sumter, nicknamed "The Gamecock" during the war. Gen. Sumter later served as a congressman and senator from South Carolina."

DESSERT -- THE BEST FIND IN PLAYBOOK: Today’s Wall Street Journal comes with the second issue of “WSJ.: The Magazine from the Wall Street Journal,” a 108-page glossy for luxury-goods ads (Hermes, Rolex, Four Seasons, Versace) that’s a knockoff of the Financial Times’ preposterous glossy, “How to Spend It.” The Journal’s new issue is thoroughly skippable (“The puffy jacket: Worn by rappers and princesses, it covers all bases”) except for the cover tease, “Bob Woodruff’s lucky talisman.” On page 90, in a spread produced by editor-at-large Jeffrey Podolsky, we see the heroic ABC News correspondent at his ABC office in New York with Liam Witt – 4 years old, the son of a friend, no hair, surviving neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system. Woodruff passed on a piece of amethyst that his friend Lolly Quagliarello had placed under his pillow as he lay comatose in Bethesda Naval Hospital: “She is a proponent of the Chinese belief that amethysts have healing powers, particularly in the region of the head. … Liam, impish and stubborn like his hero, Curious George, calls the gift ‘my special rock Bob gave me.’ He is currently NED, meaning that his body has no evidence of disease … It will be five years before he is cancer-free. … Woodruff says of the gift, ‘It’s from the soul, a symbol of someone who gave it to you. You feel that person. I hope Liam feels that way, too.’”

Dear Barack Obama, You Got $30 million left over??? Now thats some "Change I Can Believe In !" What are you going to do with it? Legally you can keep it you know. Or you could start a Non-profit, May be a Food Bank, Call it "Yes We CAN". When you and the Federal reserve print another $1 Trillion we'll get some inflation like this country has never seen before. Buy the food now!! Invest in America!!Karl

The most important things Obama should worry about, and make plans to overcome, is what to do when: 1. The stock market approaches going into negative numbers, 2. The national debt reaches a number twice as high as anyone can comprehend, and what to call it, 3. The republican party resurrects, and nominates 'The Dummy' as it's candidate again, replacing Cheney with 'The Dummy II', from Alaska, 4. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae reorganize and come back as Billie-Bob and Sarah-the-Simp, and ask for a 'pre-emptive bail-out', just to get started, 5. The Democratic party threatens to self-destruct, engaged in a tooth-and-nail, fight-to-the-death struggle as to whether they are 'right' of 'left' of center, and how far.

Dear George Bush, You are almost done and now comes the important things! You have been a GREAT leader and have left a legacy that will be with us forever!! Like a Herpes, the gift that keeps on giving. Ronald Reagan has a highway here in the Springs, The "Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway" it ends at the Off ramp for the "Focus on the Family" Visitors center. (I sh*t you NOT!!). The alley behind my mechanics shop is home to several homeless advocates and the sweet smell M/D 20-20 along with tangy wafting of urine reminds me of your tenure. I Have made a sign "BUSH BLVD." In your Honor!!! The ceremony is Jan. 20th R.S.V.P.Karl

Anyone with any smarts will get along just fine in the coming depression, but now's the time to make your move. Banks and other lending institutions hate to 'own' foreclosed and repossessed properties, they have to maintain them and that's a pain in the a**. So now is the time to, of all things, form a new business, specializing in babysitting houses and vehicles that have no owners. With a bit of luck, you can end up living in a McMansion in Palm Beach, with a McCountry Cottage in the Hampshires, a McBeachHome in Laguna Beach, and a fleet of Escalades, Hummers, Ferrari's and G-5's to commute back and forth, all free. All you'll have to worry about is the cost of fuel, and the way the market's going, pretty soon that'll be free too, as soon as the effects of mass-starvation decimate the five-years plans of OPEC, and some grave-digger discovers more rotted dinosaurs.

Every one is saying "Gold ,Diamonds Etc." I'm like food, medicine, Gasoline it's after all going to be a barter economy-!! If you want to get laid, don't bring flowers and candy,......Bring tampons and penicillin. Motto 2010: a happy woman is a Horney woman!!!Karl

Top, 'expert' economists are meeting today to resolve a burning linguistic question, whether the proper progression is from 'Bad' to 'Worse' to 'Worst' , or from 'Bad' to 'Worse' to 'Worsier' to 'Worsiest'. Realizing they may have only a short while to resolve this matter, they are going at it 'full steam ahead', and have already scheduled a Christmas Eve committee meeting to consider whether to announce their final decision before or after the inauguration.

Considering their previously announced mantra, 'It's more important to get it right than just to do it fast', they are faced with a dilemma. As their chairman, Itsnay Schwartz mused, 'What if we can't get it 'right'? Do we just procrastinate indefinitely?'

I say if you want to boost the economy you must used the tried and true methods of our forefathers. MINI SKIRTS and Go-Go BOOTS! It might not put food on the table but "EYE CANDY" sure takes the edge off!!!Karl

Boy, that Obama, he sure missed his calling. In just the past year or so, he's come up with 'Hope and Change', and now 'Sweep and Meat'! What a legacy, and already, and he's so young. What's next, 'Wipe and Whistle'? My 'god', can you imagine if he had gone into the PR or religion business? Christ, he coulda been somebuddy!